Laxman, Tendulkar bag top honours at ESPNcricinfo awards

VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar won the awards for best batting performances in Tests and ODIs while Dale Steyn bagged the top prize in Test bowling in the fourth annual ESPNcricinfo Awards on Monday.

Written by Press Trust of India

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Bangalore:

VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar won the awards for best batting performances in Tests and ODIs while Dale Steyn bagged the top prize in Test bowling in the fourth annual ESPNcricinfo Awards on Monday.

Umar Gul, Michael Hussey and Tim Southee were the other winners.

Laxman bagged the award for best Test batting for his 96 on a bowler-friendly pitch in Durban last December, while Tendulkar won the ODI award for his unbeaten double-hundred against South Africa in Gwalior last February, the first in the history of the 40-year-old format.

Steyn took the bowling prize for his seven for 51 against India in Nagpur on a flat track.

While Tendulkar still remains the only player to have scored a double ton in ODIs, what helped Laxman and Steyn beat their rivals was that their efforts came on unfavourable conditions, and led their teams to historic victories.

This was the second time Tendulkar has won an award in this category -- he had won last year for his brilliant 175, though in a losing cause against Australia in Mohali.

Tendulkar faced stiff competition from Abdul Razzaq's hurricane 109, which took his side to miraculous win against South Africa after they were nine down and needed 30 runs to win.

Also winning his second award in two years was Umar Gul, the last year's T20 bowling winner taking the ODI prize for his six for 42 against England at The Oval.

In Twenty20, Southee was the runaway winner for his five-wicket burst in nine balls, which included a hat-trick.

Hussey's "freakish" innings of 60 in the World T20 semifinal against Pakistan beat Brendon McCullum's century against Australia.

The jurors picked their top three performances in each category out of shortlists compiled by the site's editorial staff. Each performance ranked No 1 got five points, while No 2 and 3 got three points and one respectively.

Tendulkar's and Gul's performances were ranked No 1 by 10 jury members, Steyn's by eight and Laxman's 96 by five.